Google is making it a little easier to book a rideshare through Google Assistant. The company has announced a number of new features for Assistant that should help users look at rideshare pricing quickly and easily, though the actual booking of the service still needs to take place in the app itself.
With the new updates, users simply need to ask Google to “book a ride” to a specific destination, after which you’ll be given a list of popular rideshare services, along with pricing and wait times for each one. Popular services that might show up include the likes of Uber, Lyft, Grab, Go-Jek, Ola, and more. If you prefer to use one service over another, you can simply ask Google to “book an Uber ride” to your destination, and you’ll only be given pricing and wait times for that service.
Once you get the list of rideshare services, all you need to do is tap on your preferred service, and if you have the app installed on your phone, it’ll open up. The feature also works on Google Home speakers — though after asking Assistant to book you a ride, you’ll still have to look at your phone to see prices and wait times.
At first, the new feature will only be available in English in any country where the supported ridesharing services are available. Google says it will expand the service to other languages in the near future.
While the new feature is nice, it would certainly be helpful if Google Assistant could complete the booking process on its own. Then, instead of having to open up the app to complete the process, you’d simply ask Assistant to book a ride, and it would do so itself.
Still, the new feature will be helpful for those who want to find a service with the shortest wait time or the lowest price. Without a feature like this, you’d have to open up multiple apps and manually search for your destination — which could take a while, especially if you have access to multiple rideshare services in your area.
Google has been consistently updating Assistant with more features since its launch — and that’s unlikely to stop any time soon.
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